Welcome to the Spoiler-full talk about one Jesse Custer tale that is raucous, philosophical, violent, bloody, hilarious, and epic, as Preacher on AMC knows no bounds just like the books.

The genius of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon is reborn!

We do not get to wait three days for the age-old mythological rise from the dead, because that would be too much fun (and too hard to do for TV).

Instead, we have to wait seven long days to the old time religious Pagan Sunday for our Sabbath of a pastime in Jesse Custer, his newfound Irish gone nuts with immortality and good old fashioned American substance abuse slash 125-year-old vampire Cassidy, and the beauteous femme fatale Tulip.

Those familiar with the books or the behind the scenes with show creator Seth Rogan know just how hard it is to describe Preacher.

The epic yarn pushes every known, and numerous unknown, boundaries waaay past their limits, as many great genres of fight scenes cross into comedic scenes and then all sense of American religion (particularly the Christian majority that rule the southern United States with a tarnished iron fist) and its piety is examined with deep philosophy and turned utterly on its head.

There is gratuitous violence and justified violence.

There is a fantastic romance (not yet explored on the show) as the two former lovers Tulip and Jesse, a Mickey and Mallory of sorts resist the urge to rekindle their love on the show (for now).

And there is sex. Lots of sex. Sex in so many places, in so many ways. Pleasant sex. Steamy sex. Outright unwanted sex. The show has yet to touch on the sexiness, but it will!

So what can you say about a story like this?

Well for starters the pages are being paid tribute to with great writing and acting, albeit in a longer introductory season than in the books.

This is not a bad thing.

The actors Dominic Cooper (Custer), Ruth Negga (Tulip), and Anatol Yusef (Cassidy) were made for each other.

They have fully embodied the impossibly complex characters and their equally complex relationships with one another and I cannot wait to see those evolve on the screen as the melee of riotous events and all hell – or all god – breaking loose, literally and metaphorically depending on your point of view.

In the pilot the zealous organized religious leaders, full of pride in themselves and their warped messages become possessed by the Word of God – a ghost-like door-shaking spirit shown on the show.

As an added touch, Mr. Scientology himself, Tom Cruise explodes shortly after a Christian priest in Africa and a Russian Satanic priest burst into body parts and blood all over their followers.

The Word of God found them . . . unworthy.

Along with Seth Rogan is Evan Goldberg and Breaking Bad writer Sam Catlin as the show’s co-creators, and they are breaking new ground on the TV screen here, folks.

The satirical view of America in its past, present, and presumed future make for quite a tale in Preacher.HBO passed up on this show, because it was too controversial.

HBO.

AMC has given free reign to the creators to make a real version of one of the most unique and mind-blowing comic book series of all time.

Of AMCs involvement and their allowance to do so many heinous and blasphemous things on screen, Catlin said:

“I’m more than surprised, I’m shocked. There’s been incredibly little interference from them. We were all apprehensive from the beginning, if they were going to make it. We discovered that they really wanted to do Garth’s comic book with all the blasphemy, the audacity, the violence, the perversity and just the craziness of it… they’ve been great.” [deadline.com]

Thank you, AMC. This is a rewarding experience.

My last call of joy, after seeing three episodes is just how great an actress Ruth Negga is. She steals scenes and is sexy, smart, and perfect with Jesse Custer. In the books Tulip is a blonde, but that is a distant memory in my mind now.

But hell, Cooper and Yusef are also perfect in their roles; somehow their voices sound exactly as they did in my head while reading the books.​And I mean, damn, they blew up Tom Cruise in the pilot. What more is there to say? Go watch this!

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